THE BLOG

Great post Brad. Let me address some of your points.

“Each race will be divided into three parts: two stages and the finish. The top driver for the first two stages—which will basically provide the TV timeouts—will be awarded a stage win and one playoff point, while the race winner earns five playoff points, which will carry over to the postseason, adding a whole new incentive to races. Additionally, the Top 10 finishers for each stage will earn additional championship points.”

I’m fine with this because I realize that the TV networks are paying the bills for us, the fans, to enjoy our sport. Stages do not bother me and I do feel it will increase the incentive during the middle parts of the race.

“If you win both stages and the race itself, you’ll wind up with the equivalent of a hat trick or a perfect game, with 40-odd points for the race win, and another 20 to 30 for the stage wins. Maybe NASCAR can have a contest to see what winning two or three of the three race stages will be called.”

Good analogy and I like the idea of more points for a truly dominant win.

“As a driver, I like it, too. Every top driver has had races they’ve led for hundreds of laps, only to have a questionable caution come out late in the race and change the outcome. Before, if I was a race leader and debris caution came out of nowhere, all I was thinking was, “Man, what was the point of racing so damn hard? It didn’t mean anything.”

Now, it’ll mean something more, because I’ll have won at least one stage, maybe two.”

This also rewards drivers for a strong performance in the early or middle part of the race but who suffers a DNF.

“The other big change that goes hand-in-hand with stages is that all playoff points won during the regular season will carry over throughout the postseason. So instead of having everyone’s point totals reset when the playoffs begin, stage and race winners will have the extra bonus of keeping those points throughout each stage of the playoffs, all the way to Homestead.

I love this, too. It makes winning during the year worth more throughout the entire season, and can prevent top contenders from being knocked out of contention by one blown engine during a critical playoff race.”

With the current playoff system or even the previous Chase iteration, you are correct in your statement.
My problem is with the playoff (and previous Chase) system. Why not go back to awarding a season long champion using the new points system and race segmentation? Drive hard every race and gain points during segments and accumulate points through the 36 races and become a champion the old school way without resorting to a contrived elimination system and a 1 in 4 lottery at Homestead if, as a driver, you made it that far. It seems like an artificial attempt to create “moments” and “drama” when a champion should be crowned through having a season of excellence.

I am all for changes they keep things interesting. The fact that drivers had a say in this makes it even more exciting. Let’s get this party started and give it a shot!!! TY to everyone involved for all your hard work.

I don’t like the fact drivers race in the Monster Energy series and xfinity series. It cheats out the younger drivers from moving up to the Monster Energy Series. Just like the minor leagues in baseball & hockey. I feel it would make NASCAR a better sport year after year.

I do like these changes, and I believe it will make more fans pay attention for longer periods. I really wish they would also do some major shuffling with the schedule though. This probably isn’t feasible, but maybe there should be some rotating tracks in the playoffs. I don’t speak for everyone, but I definitely get tired of 5 mile and a halfs in the last 10.

It will be a bit more complicated to follow, but I’m very glad the points will carry over. That was my biggest complaint with the new Chase format. Having a driver that dominated all year get taken out because of one bad race was extremely frustrating as a fan (and obviously for the driver and team as well).

Good read Brad. Curious if anyone has done any regression testing to see what the impact of these rule changes would have been to the previous few years’ results. Who would have been champ? Top 10 in Cup season?

If NASCAR *REALLY* wants to address the elephant in the room, they need to once and for all do something about the glut of mile and a half race racetracks that dominate the schedule, but produce piss poor racing. Go to Iowa. Resurrect Rockingham. Hell, expand IRP and ditch Indy (GASP!). Do whatever it is you have to do to make the on track product, the RACING, better. You can have a break every five minutes, but if the cars are single file within 3 laps, what difference does it make?

I am absolutely a fan that was hooked from my first at track experience. I always liked my local short track races growing up, but I was by no means a diehard fan. I was fine with the system used in 2011, and felt like the chase was a cool idea but needed to shuffle the chase tracks every year to really reflect the season (obviously not practical even from just a WX perspective, but would have kept it fresh). I try to keep track of the line drivers are running, how their car is performing, the fuel milage, and strategy plays, so some sort of points to keep track of for me wasn’t needed, but I do know quite a few fans that turn the race on, go do house chores, and then check back in toward the end and I can see that the new points system might give them something to look at.
I like the idea of the playoff points moving past the first round of the playoffs. It seemed like a race team with bonus points from wins in the most current points system was most likely good enough to get through the round of 16 even with a bad race and not need the points.
I just hope that these made for TV breaks aren’t long and drawn out, that was my least favorite thing about the heat races that the Xfinity series did. It killed the momentum and took way too long to get back to racing.

I watched the announcement Monday night and it sounded a little confusing at the moment because there was a lot of information to digest at one time. I like most of the changes and it will be fun to see how they play out. It was good to see participation from teams, drivers, NASCAR , the Media and drivers all involved, but one group seemed to be missing. Where were the Crew Chiefs? It appears that they will be effected quite a bit . The pit stops will be more important than ever. I can’t wait to see this play out!

Very well said, I think you hit the nail on the head. Looking forward to seeing how these changes work out. And I enjoyed watching you at the press conference, glad you are part of the drivers council.

Great blog Brad. I think as a fan from the early 90s and growing up watching the sport I’ve adapted better than most. I’m 30 years old, and I love seeing things change for the better. I watch many old races on YouTube where you have someone dominate the race and you have multiple cars laps down (where is the excitement in that). What I really like about this change is it gives someone with an early season win a reason why they can’t just lay back until the chase. Take last year for example Denny wins the Daytona 500 he didn’t have to worry about anything else for the next 25 races. Now you better get those stage wins because those bonus points might make the difference if you make it to the next round or not. What most haven’t touched on about the stages is, if an under funded team can win one of these stages (yeah the bonus points might mean nothing for them) but look what it does for their sponsorship having recognization and something fans will be talking about on Monday. Also could this open up new sponsorship opportunities? Ex: stage one of today’s race will be sponsored by Jack links jerky? I’m very excited for this season and excited to see what monster will bring as well.

I like all of the changes that were announced this week, but the one that makes it all work is the carryover of all bonus points throughout the playoffs until the final race. Since 2014 I noticed my interest in Cup races waning in the middle of the season because once my driver won nothing really mattered again until the playoffs started. This helps address that.

I’ll frankly always hate the notion of playoffs in racing, but I therefore support any efforts to make what happens throughout the season more relevant in the playoffs. I’m excited to see how this works!

The next thing NASCAR has to address are the tracks. There are too many boring tracks and not enough road courses. I understand why we’ve been stuck with these tracks because of the conflict of interest between NASCAR and ISC (which could prompt a hell of a lawsuit from SMI if the aren’t careful). However, for the long-term health of the sport they need to figure out how to get you guys on more tracks where you can put on a good show. Short-term financial loss for what will hopefully be a long-term gain,

IMO best part of the post is “Seeing it live”. Just remembering my first live Cup race from many years ago. Charlotte, when they came out of turn 4 balls to the wall on the first lap and I swore I could hear the tires pounding off the pavement. Chills then, chills now just thinking about it. Keep up the good work. Henry would be proud.

i have been around when mr. petty ran dirt tracks like fonda speedway , nascar changes the rules every year ,nothing is consistant any more . I been going to nascar tracks every year and my last venture to new Hampshire was a total discrace!! I have been there since it opened , been a busch series pit crew, for the fans ? you have campers closer to the track rather than the fans that come for the day parking close. I don’t want my son seeing a guy come out the trailer scratching his b===, not family style to me u have to walk down between the first turn to get tshirts etc so much empty space behind the stands MAKE IT MORE FAN FRIENDLY THAN WORRING ABOUT TV TIMEdo they stop a soccer match for a tv time out , do they stop a Saturday night race fore intermission be more creative at the fan level and the fans will come family = fans or make it pay per view !!!

Thank you for your perspective, Brad. It helps to shed light on these changes and why they were made.

I love the stage bonus points. NASCAR has been sorely lacking an adequate way to reward in-race performance for too long. My problems are with the segment-ending cautions (though I vastly prefer them to random questionable cautions), and to a lesser extent, awarding points for the Duels. But overall, I’m more than willing to give this format a go. I only speak for myself here, but I’ll remain a NASCAR fan for life regardless of the changes.

Brad, excellent article, as always. Very informative.

I’m all on board with the changes. Something had to be done to make all portions of the race more watchable, and this will certainly address the (taking a nap until the end) issue. Along with Monster Energy’s branding, I’m excited about what 2017 has in store.

I will say however, that while I like the format changes, this wasn’t the number 1 problem with the sport right now. The biggest problem has already been stated 1000 times over……the schedule. While I don’t believe it’s necessarily “too long,” it’s simply too much of the same. The excess of 1.5 milers with very little character is not only bogging down the show, but the overall season. Charlotte, Atlanta, Kansas, Chicago, Michigan, Kentucky, Texas…etc, multiple visits to most of those tracks….sure, the corners may be banked a little differently, but for the most part the racing plays out the same way on the same exact kind of track for nearly half the season.

Road courses on the other hand are an entirely different story. Both Waktins Glen and Sonoma are road courses, yet they both couldn’t be more different when it comes to characteristics, thus making them more distinguishable. The twist, turns and elevation changes along with the fact that they are challenging with more room for error makes for an exciting show. You and Ambrose at the Glen…..that was NASCAR gold.

If we broke the season down into “3” stages, the first 12, 2nd 12 and 3rd 12 should all have at least 2 road races in my opinion. Wouldn’t hurt to try out a dirt race once or twice a year either. It’s been as blast to watch the trucks do it…it’s a major missed opportunity for NASCAR to have not expanded upon that momentum with it’s upper series.

I’ve been watching NASCAR for many years. I watched it as a kid with my dad, and then as an adult I started watching again. I watch the Cup series and also the Camping World Truck series and the Xfinity series. If I can’t watch them live, I record them. I try to attend the 2 races in Michigan each summer. I’ve been to one of the races at Bristol too.

I liked the races at Daytona and Talladega the most until they stopped allowing tandem racing. I was EXTREMELY disappointed. NASCAR said they changed it because the fans didn’t like it, but I for one loved it and found those races very exciting and looked forward to them. I’m glad there have been safety advancements because no one wants to see drivers get hurt, but unfortunately no wrecks makes the races less exciting to watch, in my opinion. The no-tandem racing was the first change that made me enjoy watching races a little less.
I also didn’t like it when the Chase format changed to the win-and-advance 12-8-4 system. Your driver can be rocking the entire season, but then if your driver doesn’t win a race in one of the 3-segments and doesn’t advance to the Chase, it makes it less exciting to watch the remaining Chase races. I still watch them, but it’s must less compelling when you know your driver isn’t going to advance to the next level.

I’ll wait to see if I like this new stage format, but I don’t like it during duels so I’m inclined to think that I won’t like it now either. For that matter, when they started the 20-minute clock for yellow flags in the Camping World Truck series, I didn’t like that either. How are those younger drivers going to get experience running longer races if they get a break every 20 minutes or so? How will they fare when they move up to Xfinity and don’t have those breaks anymore? Will they be able to handle it?

I also don’t like the newer format for green-white-checker overtimes. I liked it better when there were 3 restarts allowed. I remember seeing a race in this new format where the first and second drivers raced each other like hell toward the finish line but a caution came out due to a wreck at the back of the track. Although the top 2 drivers were able to cross the finish line, the driver who crossed it first didn’t win the race because he wasn’t in the lead when the caution came out! It was so disappointing!!!

About attending races in person: it’s hot and sunny in June and August in Michigan when the races are held there. Because there is no shade at all in the grandstands, I’ve actually had to leave the race because I was going to pass out from the heat! Baseball and football fans don’t have to sit in the blazing sun all day, but race fans do. I realize it is probably not economically feasible for race tracks to build covers over the grandstands because there are only 1 or 2 races at a given track in a year, but it’s still hard to sit through an entire race in the blazing sun, especially if you’re drinking alcohol. It makes it much more attractive to sit in air-conditioned comfort and watch the races from home.

Finally – I wish NASCAR would air reruns of older races in their entirety. Sometimes during rain delays they will air an older race, but they edit out a lot of the action (i.e., wrecks), which again makes them less exciting to watch.

I’ll get off my soap box now but I wanted to voice my opinions. Maybe other race fans agree with me.

If the future of Nascar is as a TV sport then we need improvements to the TV product. As much as I like Dale Jr. we’re still getting 15 minute ride along’s with a guy that is a lap down a lot of the time. Meanwhile, drivers like Jamie Mac are tearing through the field with no mention from the broadcasting team. The broadcasting team also runs with their favorite/fan favorite drivers while i’m sitting there wishing I could follow your progress in getting back to the front.

*Jeff Gordon has been fantastic and gives fans very detailed driver insight. We need more of this.

*There are times when an in-car camera and insight from Jeff would be perfect. I would have loved for this to happen in the context of Harvick’s dominance. Would have a perfect opportunity for Jeff to watch the in-car with us and weigh in on where he was finding the speed.

The worst part of it is that Jeff is gone for the second half of the season and we don’t get the same quality of driver commentary. NBC needs to work something out with Nascar and Fox so we get more Gordon.